Wait for Me
by LunettePendragon
Summary: SPOILERS: A continuation of season three, set a few weeks after Miracle Queen. While Ladybug slips deeper and deeper into depression, her kitty can't help but notice. When he takes matters into his own hands, he learns that life is complicated and not everything is as simple as it seems. Will he ever find a way to make his lady smile again? Or will it have to wait?
1. Chapter 1

Adrien collapsed onto the bed. While his body ached from their last battle, he knew sleep would be hard to come by. His mind spun in circles, thoughts flowing in and out. Ladybug had been growing more and more distant from him. It had been weeks since she had laughed. She had even stopped chiding him for his puns. Then today, she hadn't even looked in the eye when she pounded his fist.

Something was wrong.

Of course, things had been tense for both of them since Master Fu had left. Ladybug was now the guardian. It meant extra responsibility and he knew it was affecting her. But his gut told him that this ran deeper. Indeed, he had started to notice a change in her before she became guardian. It was like he had been watching the happiness slip from her slowly over time. Now, she was clearly depressed. Still, she wouldn't talk to him. She gave him a soft smile and reassured him that it was fine.

It wasn't fine.

He longed for answers he knew he wasn't going to get, but there had to be something he could do. He was her partner. Together, the fought akumas and sentimonsters. Surely, they could work through this together? The tv clicked on, illuminating the room. Plagg was watching late-night talk shows again. It was one of the few things the black kwami loved in this world and Adrien never had the heart to tell him to turn it off.

Adrien rolled over and the beret that Ladybug had delivered caught his eye. The embroidered heart shimmering in the soft light. Adrien blinked as he made the connection. Ladybug had delivered it for his fan club and later that same day she had called Chat Noir. He didn't know what had happened that day, but Ladybug had clearly dealt with something. She had told him something was done and nothing else. He hadn't minded as she leaned her head on his shoulder, but now he realized that it was the first sign of trouble. After that exact day, things had slowly begun to change.

Could the beret be connected?

Getting up he fetched it from the shelf where he had tossed it. He turned it over slowly in his hands. It was well made; black with stripes that matched his favorite shirt. He slowly traced his fingers around the edge. He didn't know what he was looking for, but when he felt the slight change of texture, he knew he had overlooked a detail. Turning the beret over, he saw that something had been embroidered on the inside. He flipped on his desk lamp and placed the beret underneath. Sure enough, there was a design. He tried to work out what it was exactly, but couldn't make sense of it.

As he turned the beret around, however, the word became clear. His jaw dropped as he slowly traced the letters with his hand. Running to his closet, he threw open the doors and rummaged through until he found the hatbox he was looking for. He quickly placed the derby hat side by side with the beret. The same signature was hidden on the brim in golden thread. He smiled looking back and forth between the two hats. He knew instantly that the same person had made them. While the derby hat signature was much clearer, with its gold thread on black, the maker had been more sneaky with the beret. The black thread she had used blended perfectly with the black fabric. You would only know to look at it if you felt it with your fingers as Adrien had.

His stomach twisted in knots as he made one more connection. Slowly, he opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out the blue scarf his father had given him for his birthday. He had traced the strange design hidden with the blue fabric countless times without thinking. But as he placed it next to the two other items, he realized it was another signature. The scarf hadn't been from his father. All three items were handmade by the same person.

"Marinette," he muttered the name out loud.

"What was that?" Plagg asked from across the room. Adrien ignored him as he picked up the beret. Did Marinette not want him to know it was from her? Had Marinette lied to Ladybug or had Ladybug lied to him when she told him about the fan club? His eyes grew wider as a much simpler explanation came to mind. He thought about it more, seeing it clearer and clearer.

"Marinette is Ladybug."

"Wait...what?" The kwami asked as he rushed to Adrien's side. "No way. Marinette is Marinette and Ladybug is Ladybug!"

"No, they're the same person!" Adrien declared, positive of his assumption. "And the boy she likes is ME!"

"No no no...you are not supposed to know each other's identity!"

"Just because I know hers doesn't mean she has to know mine. It'll be fine. I promise."

It all made sense to him. He had been trying to move on from his love for Ladybug by getting closer to Kagame. Marinette had been forced to watch it all, not knowing he was Chat Noir and that she was already the keeper of his heart. Of course, she would be depressed. But that was all about to change. He squeezed the beret tight to his chest. Tomorrow, she would be happy again. Adrien would make sure of that.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm sorry, but no."

Her words blasted through him harder than a cataclysm. He had spent the rest of the night debating on how to tell her. Not knowing if she wanted him to know about the beret or not, he had opted to leave it at home. Later on, he could tell her that he knew about it, as well as the scarf. Instead of thanking her and declaring his love, he thought it would best to simply ask her to go to the upcoming school dance with him.

Initially, her face had been full of excitement when he had asked, but then it faded as quickly as it came. She didn't look him in the eye as she gently turned him down, but it didn't lessen the blow.

"Oh, um, that's fine. Uh, maybe we could do something else...another time?"

"No, Adrien," she said in a firm tone. It was one he knew quite well as his time with her as Ladybug. It was the tone she used when Chat had crossed a line, a definite stopping point. "I'm sorry."

"Just tell me why. Please?"

"I can't...I don't..." her face was twisted in pain. He reached out to her, wanting to make it better, but she turned and bolted towards the door. "I don't like you!"

Adrien stood there, gawking at the door as it swung closed. He felt his heart shattering into a hundred pieces. His mind spun endlessly as he tried to process what had just happened. Marinette loved him. Or, at least, that was what he had thought.

"Well, that went well," Plagg commented as he drifted out of Adrien's backpack.

"I don't get it," he muttered. "She loves me, doesn't she?"

"Clearly not. Can we go home now? I'm hungry."

"Do you have a heart? Like..._at all_?"

"Which answer will get me cheese?"

It wasn't very often that Adrien wanted to punch the small creature and send him flying across the room, but this was definitely one of those moments. His fist started to float into the air, but his phone beeped at him, interrupting the heated moment. Pulling it out of his pocket, Adrien realized it was his bodyguard. He had kept the gorilla waiting long enough.

"Let's go."

Adrien was stone cold silent during the drive to the photoshoot. Whenever his father was out of town, it felt like Gabriel Agreste deliberately filled Adrien's schedule. The three hours shoot was painful to get through, with the photographer constantly reminding him to smile. Thankfully, Adrien had practice and experience with keeping his emotions from completely ruining a shoot. When he was finally back home, he took the sky as Chat Noir, hoping for either an akuma attack or for Ladybug to be out and about on a patrol. But as he paused a few doors down from the bakery, he saw that it was only Marinette on her balcony. He thought about going to her as Chat, but like Plagg had said, their identities were supposed to be kept secret. Going to her as Chat on the same day Adrien had asked out might seem suspicious, a risk he couldn't take.

Instead, he settled in and watched her cry from a distance, his night vision giving him a clearer view than he cared to have. With each tear that fell, he felt more and more hopeless.

"What's wrong, milady?" he asked her, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. "Just tell me what's wrong."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about the huge delay on this update. When I started this project I thought I was going to have a lighter workload for a few weeks. Oh well, better late than never. Thanks for waiting for me lol! ;)**

The next day, Adrien found that Marinette wasn't at school. Alya confirmed that she was sick, but he didn't buy it for a second. As soon as school was over, he gave his bodyguard the slip and transformed. Rushing to the bakery, he gazed in the window from across the street. He couldn't see much, but he watched as Alya and Nino went inside. A few minutes later, they left. Frowning, he pulled out his cat phone.

It went straight to voicemail, as he suspected.

"Hey, milady," he said in a cheerful voice as he recorded his message. "I was just wondering if you were up to patrol tonight. I'm _feline _like I haven't seen you in a while."

He hung up before he said something he would regret. It was going to be hard to protect his identity, but he also knew that Marinette's depression was only getting worse. He needed to get her to talk and he knew he stood a better chance as Chat than Adrien. Exactly how he was going to manage to make her talk he didn't know.

His cat phone buzzed in his hand as Ladybug texted him a reply.

_Sorry, busy tonight. _

Chat's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he quickly typed back a response.

_I have a lead on Hawkmoth. _

It was a lie, of course, but he didn't feel bad about it. If anything was going to get her out of that bakery, it was Hawkmoth. And, without an akuma roaming around, he didn't have much choice but to lie to her.

_Eiffel Tower. One hour._

Glancing at the bakery window, he smiled. That was the Ladybug he knew. She wouldn't let anything from her personal life interfere when duty called. They had both proven that time and time again as they constantly slipped away in order to transform. Standing up, he took off towards the Eiffel Tower. He needed the full hour to think about how to break through to her; to convince her to open up.

***Later***

Ladybug was late. Chat anxiously paced back and forth on the high platform. He had been preparing for her arrival, not wasting a single minute. He flipped open his cat phone to check his messages, but there was no word. Finally, she swung down.

"What do you have, Chat?" she asked, cutting straight to the point.

"Not even a 'Hi Chat' or 'How was your day Chat'?" he asked, tilting his head to the side with his signature grin.

"Chat," she moaned. "Please, not tonight."

"Fine. Fine." He said, raising his hands defensively. "Give me your yo-yo."

"What?" she took a step back from him, hand already laid on the weapon.

"Trust me, milady. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important." He held out his hand to her. He wasn't lying. It was important. If Ladybug didn't like what he had to say, she would just swing away. Not feeling like chasing her all over the city, taking the yo-yo was his best bet. She studied him but complied after a moment. Once the yo-yo was in his hand, he quickly tucked it into his zippered pocket.

"Thank you, milady. Now sit down."

"Excuse me? What about my yo-yo?"

"Sit down and I'll explain everything. I promise." Their eyes locked and he could tell he was pushing his luck. She starred at him with glaring eyes, but he could see the sadness still in them. He gestured to the edge of the platform and she hesitantly sat down. Satisfied, he fetched the paper coffee cups and the brown paper bag he had tucked out of sight.

"Here you go, milady." he said, handing her one of the cups before sitting down next to her. "One hot cocoa. I didn't know if you liked marshmallows so I got them on the side."

"Chat," she warned as he jiggled the brown bag in front of her.

"Right, right. Hawkmoth." He took a long sip of the liquid, bracing himself for the anger he knew was coming. "I got nothing."

"WHAT?"

"Well, I had to say _something_ to get you to come."

"Give me back my yo-yo." I didn't have to look over to know she was fuming mad at me. Of course she was. I was Chat Noir. Always playing tricks and saying puns. She had no reason to think that this was any different.

"Not until you talk."

"Talk? Talk about what, Chat?"

"Whatever the hell has been bothering you!" He nearly screamed it at her, turning to face her piercing blue eyes straight on. "You haven't been yourself. You never smile anymore. You're always sad and depressed and you can't cover it up. Not to me anyway. Maybe everyone else is buying the idea that you're 'ok' but not me!"

She sat there speechless for a moment. I tried to steady my breathing; doing his best to stay calm but he was worried. While he was trying to help, he always knew he was running the risk of ruining everything they had between them. If he pushed too hard, too far, she might turn on him, something he would never forgive himself for.

"Chat...I...I can't tell you."

"Why not? Because I'm not your friend? Because I'm just a sidekick instead of your partner?" He saw that more words stung her and there were tears beginning to slide down her cheeks. The walls were coming down. He softened his tone and pushed her just a little more. "Milady, you can tell me _anything._ You know that. I'm here for you."

"Chat..." Her body shook as the tears intensified. Chat sat his cup down and gathered her in his arms. She didn't resist and continued to sob on his shoulder. He gently ran his claws up and down her back, waiting for her to get it out of her system. The sun was setting and it grew dark, but he didn't mind. The lights of the tower came on, creating a soft glow around them. When Ladybug finally did stop crying, she didn't pull away.

"You were akumatized." She said at last. Chat's jaw dropped open, but he decided against saying anything. She was finally talking and, while he desperately wanted to interrupt, he knew to let her continue. "It was in the future. Bunnix came to fetch me. I...I fixed it so it won't happen now, but...I'm still worried it might."

"Alright," He said slowly, trying to keep his own emotions in check. "So, I was akumatized and Bunnix time traveled to get you. What about the Ladybug from _that _time."

Silence fell as she didn't answer. Not that he needed her to. The only reason Bunnix would need an earlier version of Ladybug was that the Ladybug in the future had failed.

"Milady, what did I do?" She pulled away from as he asked. The pain was clear on her face, but she forced a smile.

"Um...well...you killed Hawkmoth."

Chat almost laughed at her expression. She was trying desperately to lighten the conversation, but he knew that it was killing her inside. Whatever his akumatized self had done it must have been a horrible experience for her.

"Milady, while that's great news, I really do want to know the rest of it."

He listened patiently as she began to recount her small journey through time. She described a Paris underwater, a moon that had been nearly destroyed, and a cat that had turned white. With every new detail, he felt his stomach twist with guilt for things that he hadn't yet done. The power of cataclysm was strong enough as it was. When he had been akumatized, that power had grown to a point that he could easily destroy the world. And, from the sounds of it, he nearly had.

"But you stopped me." He said as Ladybug's story drew to a close. "You saved me."

"Yes." She said, hanging her head. Not once had she looked over at him while she had talked. "And, technically, it never happened so it's alright. But...now I have to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"_You _have to make sure? Shouldn't that be my responsibility?"

"You don't understand." Ladybug shook her head making her pigtails bounce in a way that usually made him smile. "I was the reason you got akumatized."

"What do you mean?"

"You...you knew who I was Chat. You knew my identity." His blood grew cold with her words and his mind began to spin. He already knew her identity. One thought raced through him: was he about to be akumatized?


End file.
